The present invention relates to a solid drug filling apparatus for filling a solid drug (all of solidified drugs such as tablets, capsules, pills, and troches will be referred to as solid drugs, hereinbelow) designated by a prescription into a vessel in a hospital or the like.
Hitherto, in the hospital or the like, by using a tablet packing machine as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication Laid-Open No. 3-59 (1991) (A61J3/00), a plurality of kinds of tablets prescribed by a doctor are divided and packed every dose and are then presented to a client. According to the dividing and packing method, however, since tablets as much as dose are discharged, collected, and packed by a hopper, a conveyor, or the like, when a waiting time for collecting tablets is included, a long time is required until the packing is completed. Since the collecting operation of tablets entirely depends on a gravity by the hopper or conveyor, a size of the apparatus is large as a whole.
On the other hand, there is also a tablet filling apparatus for filling prescribed tablets into a vessel such as a phial (or a bag) every kind, thereby presenting to a client. In case of the tablet filling apparatus, the conventional apparatus is constructed in such a manner that a plurality of tablet cases each receiving tablets every kind are arranged so as to be inclined forwardly and lowly in a locker arrangement manner, a discharging mechanism for discharging a tablet in the tablet case is provided for each tablet case, and designated tablets in the tablet cases are discharged from the discharging mechanisms on the basis of a prescription, respectively.
In the tablet filling apparatus, since tablets are not divided and packed every dose, the filling operation of tablets can be performed for a short time as compared with the foregoing tablet packing machine. However, an operation such that an operator carries a vessel to the tablet cases and fills tablets from the discharging mechanisms into the vessel is necessary. Particularly, in case of many kinds of tablets, the operation to fill each kind of tablets into the vessel is very complicated, so that a long time is required.
Since the apparatus is constructed in such a manner that a plurality of tablet cases are arranged in a locker arrangement manner at a surface of a wall, a reduction in size of the whole apparatus which has been desired in the conventional tablet packing machine cannot be accomplished.
The applicant has developed a structure such that a turntable is provided under the plurality of arranged tablet cases, a holder device is further provided under the turntable, tablets discharged from the tablet cases are collected to a guide on the outer rim while being received on the turntable, the tablets are discharged from a discharge orifice formed through the guide into a holder of the holder device and is held.
According to the construction, the operation to fill tablets can be executed at one portion and a size of the whole apparatus in the vertical direction can be decreased as compared with the conventional apparatus of a conveyor type or a locker arrangement type. However, there is a limitation in decrease of size due to the relation that the rotating turntable and holder device have to be arranged in the vertical direction.
On the other hand, a further compaction of the apparatus has been desired and a development of a construction which can satisfy such a desire has been required. In the conventional structure, since motors are necessary to rotate the turntable and holder device, an electric power consumption increases and the structure is complicated.